(6/23/2012) A new tropical storm has formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the last few days we have been monitoring information from the National Weather service on the development of this tropical cyclone. With the naming of Tropical Storm Debby also come storm warnings for a portion of the Louisiana coast.

Maximum sustained winds have reached 50mph with Debby about 220 miles south by southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi river and moving North at 6 mph. A tropical storm warning is in affect for the area from the mouth of the Pearl river to Morgan City but does not include either New Orleans of Lake Pontchartrain. Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach the warning area by Sunday night.

A storm surge is expected to affect Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana raising the water level in the affected areas 1-3 feet.

Heavy rainfall is expected with this storm producing 3-6 inches of rain along the gulf coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. There is also the possibility of up to 10 inched in isolated areas.

Tropical Storm Debby is may cause problems along the gulf coast, Florida, and possibly up the coast the the US. There is also a possibility there will be storm conditions in Cuba.

It is unlikely that the storm conditions from tropical storm Debby will have an affect on the Dominican Republic other than possibly affecting flights coming out of Florida. Further updates on Debby, including if it reaches hurricane status will be added into the comments below this post.

At 4pm CDT the tropical storm warnings were dropped as the threat to Louisiana dropped. There is still a tropical storm watch for the west coast of Florida (south of the Suwannee River) to Englewood.

There is also a tropical storm warning in effect for the area from the Mississippi/Alabama border heading east to the Suwannee river in Florida.

The maximum sustained wind for Tropical storm Debby are at 60mph with tropical storm force winds reaching out 200 miles from the center.

There are some possibilities of Tornadoes forming over the west and central Florida peninsula tonight. Storm surges could reach as high as 4-6 feet in the Apalachee bay, 2-4 feet on the Florida west coast south of the Apalachee bay. From the Apalachee bay west along the coast of Mississippi there could be storm surges from 2-4 feet and 1-4 along the south eastern Louisiana.

This mornings update says that Tropical Storm Debby is at a stand still in the gulf. No other changes have been made to the advisory.

Debby is currently dumping huge amounts of rain affected Florida and Alabama.

Among the areas that have been severely affected is West Palm Beach where trees have been uprooted and record amounts of rain have fallen. A report stated a waterspout was seen in Juno Beach, Florida. You can see the pictures here from one of the local TV stations Juno waterspout.

Debby is currently heading east at about 3mph. Debby continues to have maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph which out about 240 miles.

The center of the tropical storm is now expected to pass over Northern Florida in the next day or so. This could cause some delays in flight leaving Florida and heading to the Dominican Republic. If you have a flight that is stopping over in Florida you should continue to watch the weather reports to see if it will affect your flight.

Tropical Storm Debby speed up and crossed Florida last night and is now heading out from Florida in an eastern direction. There are no longer any coastal warnings or watches in affect. The heavy rain caused by the storm is starting to decrease.

Tropical depression Debby doesn’t seem to want to leave the news yet and is still causing trouble for Florida. The nation weather service is once again issuing advisories for the Debby. As more advisories comes in I’ll continue to post here.

Debby is a bit of a fickle one. She has now been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone having lost her tropical characteristics. As mentioned before there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect at this time.

Debby is traveling east at about 13 miles per hour and has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.

Debby’s path does take her by Bermuda where she could cause some problems Friday night.